The embodiments described herein relate generally to agricultural activities and, more particularly, systems and methods for managing and recommending agricultural activities at the field level based on crop-related data and field-condition data.
Agricultural production requires significant strategy and analysis. In many cases, agricultural growers (e.g., farmers or others involved in agricultural cultivation) are required to analyze a variety of data to make strategic decisions months in advance of the period of crop cultivation (i.e., growing season). In making such strategic decisions, growers must consider at least some of the following decision constraints: fuel and resource costs, historical and projected weather trends, soil conditions, projected risks posed by pests, disease and weather events, and projected market values of agricultural commodities (i.e., crops). Analyzing these decision constraints may help a grower to predict key agricultural outcomes including crop yield, energy usage, cost and resource utilization, and farm profitability. Such analysis may inform a grower's strategic decisions of determining crop cultivation types, methods, and timing.
Despite its importance, such analysis and strategy is difficult to accomplish for a variety of reasons. First, obtaining reliable information for the various considerations of the grower is often difficult. Second, aggregating such information into a usable manner is a time consuming task. Third, where data is available, it may not be precise enough to be useful to determine strategy. For example, weather data (historical or projected) is often generalized for a large region such as a county or a state. In reality, weather may vary significantly at a much more granular level, such as an individual field. In addition, terrain features may cause weather data to vary significantly in even small regions.
Additionally, growers often must regularly make decisions during growing season. Such decisions may include adjusting when to harvest, providing supplemental fertilizer, and how to mitigate risks posed by pests, disease and weather. As a result, growers must continually monitor various aspects of their crops during the growing season including weather, soil, and crop conditions. Accurately monitoring all such aspects at a granular level is difficult and time consuming. Accordingly, methods and systems for analyzing crop-related data and providing field condition data and strategic recommendations for maximizing crop yield are desirable.